Page 52 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 14 - 18

16911. Is it only today, just now, that you have got to know about the chit, with “ice” and the position marked? - That is all that I have heard of it, just this moment. 16912. Can you tell us anything about that chit? - Yes. The mentioning of it has refreshed my memory, and I remember writing it out. 16913. (The Commissioner.) You wrote it? - Yes, and it is the position of the “Caronia’s” ice. I copied it off the notice board to save taking the telegram itself down. I copied it on a chit and took it into the Captain’s chart room, and put it on the chart, and that is the ice that I must have put down between 4 and 6 in the evening. 16914. (Sir Robert Finlay.) You have heard, I daresay, of the message sent from the “Amerika” to the “Titanic” for transmission to Cape Race? - Only since I have read the evidence - that is all I had not heard of it before. 16915. Did you ever hear anything of any such message? - Not on board the ship. 16916. It is only in the evidence, since that you have heard of it? - Yes, I think reading over some of the Washington evidence or some of the telegrams that were read over in Washington was the first I heard of it. 16917. The evidence in America? - Yes. 16918. Now, with regard to the “Mesaba” message, you were on the 8 to 12 watch, I think? - Yes. 16919. Did any message from the “Mesaba” ever come to your knowledge, or did you ever hear anything about it? - I never heard anything of the “Mesaba’s” message until the night we arrived in New York on the “Carpathia,” and someone who had been talking to the Captain of the “Mesaba” had heard him say, or he told them that his ship had warned us that night; that was the first of the “Mesaba’s” message that I heard. 16920. The “Mesaba’s” message would have reached you about 10 o’clock, if it was transmitted to the “Titanic”? - Yes. 16921. You were on duty then? - Yes. 16922. You never heard about it? - No, I never heard a word about the ship. 16923. Was there any message during the time you were on duty, from 8 to 12, received by any of the officers on the bridge? - Not to my knowledge. 16924. You know of none. Was Captain Smith on and off the bridge during your watch? - Frequently. 16925. At what intervals did he come on the bridge? - The first that I remember seeing of Captain Smith was somewhere in the vicinity of 9 o’clock, but from 9 o’clock to the time of the collision, Captain Smith was around there the whole of the time; I was talking to him on one or two occasions. 16926. Were you talking to him on the bridge? - Sometimes in the officers’ chart room and sometimes at his chart room door. 16927. What were you talking about? - I was discussing some stellar bearings I had had. I was also standing at his chart room door while he pricked off the 7.30 stellar position of the ship. 16928. Was anything ever said by the Captain about any such message as that that the “Mesaba” sent? - No, none whatever. 16929. You know what the message was? - Yes, I have read it this morning. 16930. It is a message of a somewhat startling character? - Yes, it is. 16931. It is a message that would have been mentioned in conversation if it had been received? - Undoubtedly. 16932. Was the position of the vessel pricked off? - Yes, the Captain pricked the position. 16933. At what time? - It would be pretty nearly 10 o’clock, I should think. The Solicitor-General: He did it then, but it was the position found at 7.30. 16934. (Sir Robert Finlay.) Yes, he pricked it off at 10 o’clock, but it was the position the ship